Toy Soldier
by often indecisive
Summary: A novelisation of the fight scene, chapter 5-3. Chris, Jill, and Wesker; the vicious cycle remains.


Toy Soldier

Chris sprinted through the old, decrepit halls faster than he had ever run in his life; Sheva hot on his tail. His lungs felt as though they were going to burst, his chest compacting with the effort, but he had to keep running. He had to. Jill is here, he kept saying to himself, over and over, Jill is here and she's alive. It kept him going, kept him blasting through Lickers, running through ancient, crumbling halls. Jill, his Jill, was alive.

He was only vaguely aware of Sheva behind him; truth be told, he had only been vaguely aware of Sheva since he discovered that Jill was alive. His thoughts had turned to a single track: find Jill. That was all. Find Jill. It was all that mattered to him now. Suddenly, the other reasons for him being in Africa seemed unimportant. She was alive. It was all he could think. As he ran, he allowed memories of her to flood back into his mind - memories he had once locked away, as they were too painful to think about. Jill's face, the way her jaw-length chocolate-brown hair curved around her cheeks, the baby blue of her eyes and the way they sparkled in the light, the faint blush that would often rise in her cheeks whenever Chris called her beautiful, the way her lips pouted when she was concentrating… everything. Every single stored memory Chris had of Jill, he allowed to bombard him. And for once, he didn't shy away from them, feeling a hole being ripped in his chest from the pain. No, now he looked on it with a new light: he would see her again. Because she was alive.

A pair of thick, steel looking doors came into Chris' view, rusty and worn just like the rest of the place, and Chris barrelled into them, forcing them to fly open. They brought him out into a hall-like room, lit by torches on the walls. There was a balcony, with stairs on each side that led up to the top, and standing there, at the top of the balcony, was Excella.

"Excella Gionne, stop right there!" Sheva yelled, coming to a stop next to Chris a few seconds later.

"Bravo," Excella applauded, mocking them. Chris' patience was virtually depleted by now.

"Goddamit, where the hell is Jill?" He barked at her, gun aimed in her direction as he glared hatefully at her. She laughed, and Chris saw Sheva stiffen from the corner of his eye.

"Jill? Hmm, maybe I'll tell you, maybe I wont," She taunted, and Chris gritted his teeth, swearing at her. He made a move forward, but before he could get any closer to Excella, a cloaked figure suddenly leapt down in front of him, landing a powerful kick to his stomach sending him flying backwards. He sprawled in a heap on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. Sheva reacted immediately, firing bullets at the cloaked figure, but the figure was too fast. With inhuman speed, Sheva's bullets were dodged, and Sheva was hit with a roundhouse kick.

Catching his breath, Chris rose quickly, and began shelling out a magazine at the cloaked figure, and, as with Sheva's bullets, they were dodged. All but one, which managed to catch the golden, jewelled mask the figure was wearing. The mask pinged off the figure's face, and Chris tried to see who it was, but the hood of the figure was obscuring their face. Sheva got back up, and began firing at the figure again, who somersaulted backwards, dodging each bullet, until there was a considerable distance between Sheva and Chris, and the figure.

"Enough of this shit, I want some answers!" Chris demanded Excella, who laughed again.

"You haven't changed a bit, Chris," Came a deep, throaty voice from behind Excella, that Chris instantly recognized. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. No… there's no way… He thought to himself, but he thought wrong. From the shadows behind Excella, Wesker came forward to stand next to her, a smirk on his face.

"Wesker… it's not possible…" He breathed, hand tightening on his gun as he remembered the night Jill had sacrificed herself for him, throwing both herself and Wesker out of a window. The fall, it was at least a hundred foot drop, there was no way Wesker could have survived…

"Oh yes, it's quite possible indeed," Wesker contradicted, his voice almost gloating. He touched Excella's shoulder, and she brushed her hand along his cheek before turning and disappearing into the shadows. Wesker moved slowly, almost sauntering, as he made his was down the crumbling stairs.

"You know, Chris, I would have thought you would have been happy to see us," Wesker said, coming to a standstill next to the cloaked figure. Chris lifted an eyebrow, Wesker's words sending an unexplainable chill through him.

"Us…?" Wesker smirked.

"So slow… I would have thought YOU of all people would have figured it out by now," And he lifted his hand up to remove the cloaked figure's hood. Chris felt as though his legs had been taken out from underneath him when he saw who it was.

"Jill…" He whispered, shell-shocked, unconsciously lowering his gun. It was her. The same fair skin, the same baby blue eyes, the only thing different about her now was that her hair was blonde, not the chocolate brown he remembered. That, and her beautiful, gentle features were set in a hardened, angry scowl.

"What? Are you sure that's her?" Sheva asked, her voice a pitch higher than usual as she moved a little closer to Chris, gun still raised.

"The one and only," Wesker confirmed, his hand gesturing over Jill's entire form.

"Jill…" Chris whispered, taking a step towards her, "It's me, Chris…"

"It's no use, Redfield," Wesker growled, "She's under my control. She belongs to ME now." Wesker's hand came up to trace Jill's cheek. Jill's features remained unchanged at the contact. Chris snarled: a deep, feral sound, coming from deep in his chest at the sight of Wesker touching her.

"Get your filthy hands off her," He snarled at Wesker, who chuckled.

"I think it's time we taught you a lesson. What do you think, Jill?" Suddenly, Jill sprang to life, simultaneously throwing her cloak off and flying at Chris, kicking him into the air and then slamming him into the ground. Faster than humanly possible, she spun through the air, dodging the bullets Sheva fired at her with ease. She kicked Sheva's gun from her hand, and slammed her into the floor.

Chris shakily got to his feet, only to be assaulted by Jill again. She appeared in front of him so quickly it was almost like she had materialised, and grabbed his arms, twisting them and squeezing his throat, cutting off his airway.

"J-Jill… please, stop… don't you… recognize me?" Chris managed to choke out, trying to get through to Jill. Her blue eyes blazed fiercely, full of hate, and Chris could hardly believe that this was Jill. His Jill. What had Wesker done to her? "J-Jill… please… snap out of it… I-I love you, remember?" He tried desperately to get through to her, as his vision began to turn black…

The next thing Chris knew, he was flying through the air, as Jill had flung him away from her body. He landed harshly on the floor, and Jill slipped back to Wesker's side like a snake in the grass. Sheva hurried to Chris' side, helping him up.

"Awww, how sweet, Chris. However, as you can see, she does whatever I tell her to, no matter how many times you tell her you love her," Wesker chided, petting Jill lightly on the head. Chris growled again, tasting the familiar, metallic taste of blood in his mouth. He spat angrily, and tightened his hand on his gun. Wesker laughed; a husky, bellowing sound. "Enough games, now. Let us finish this. I think it's a fair fight: two on two, right, Jill?" Jill cocked her head slightly in Wesker's direction in response. Chris snarled again; Wesker was taunting him, and he didn't like it.

"Ready when you are," Chris barked at Wesker; his words were the catalyst. Jill back flipped away, as she had done when dodging the bullets, and Wesker touched his watch, getting into a fighting position.

"Seven minutes. Seven minutes is all I need to deal with you," Wesker declared and, moving like a black blur, ran at Chris, who barely had enough time to raise his gun before Wesker's fist came into contact with his stomach. Chris had had enough training in the field to counter, however, for he grabbed Wesker's arm, and landed the butt of his gun in Wesker's face. Wesker staggered back, but recovered in the speed of light, dodging both Chris and Sheva's bullets.

Chris ran after Wesker as he retreated, followed closely by Sheva. The two unloaded clip after clip on him, but he dodged every bullet. Just as Sheva was reloading, after Chris had thwarted another of Wesker's attempts to punch him into oblivion , a blur of blue slammed into Sheva, knocking her down. Momentarily distracted, Chris took a powerful hit from Wesker, and staggered back, seeing stars. He shook his head to see Jill, the blue blur, pinning Sheva down.

He hurried over to them, grabbing Jill to try to pull her off Sheva. She was too strong, and thrust her elbow into Chris' chest, sending him backwards. The next second, she was on top of him, choking him again.

"Jill… J-Jill snap out of it… it's me! Why don't you… recognize me?" Chris pleaded, pain evident in his words - not just physical. Flashes of Jill - more memories - came to Chris suddenly: her beautiful face, how stunned he had been when he had fist laid eyes on her, the blush that rose on her cheeks when he asked her out on a date, the bright, happy shine in her eyes when he had taken her to his favourite spot on the hills to watch the sun set. He saw none of that in Jill now, her face an alabaster mask of hate and anger. She wasn't his Jill anymore, she was Wesker's Jill. His toy soldier.

Sheva had recovered and fired a shot at Jill, causing her to let go of Chris and scurry away. Sheva hurried to help Chris up. Wesker had disappeared, but the sound of his laughter floated on the air, into Chris' ears. "Really, Chris, I thought you would have put up a better fight than this. Jill and I are getting bored," he taunted, and Chris felt a sudden burning surge of hate towards Wesker. He was the reason Jill wasn't the same. He was the reason Jill had been absent from his life for two years. He had made Jill his puppet, and he had the nerve to taunt Chris about it. Chris' jaw clenched so tightly it threatened to break as a red haze clouded over his vision.

"This isn't working…" Sheva told him, "We need a different tactic,"

"Wesker…" Chris growled, almost incoherent with rage. Sheva nodded.

"Right, we'll split up. You take care of Wesker, and I'll take care of Jill," Sheva stated, her words momentarily snapping Chris from his rage-induced stupor.

"Wait," He pleaded suddenly, "Please, don't hurt her," He begged, his voice a strangled mix of despair and fury. Sheva opened her mouth, most likely to protest, but Chris cut her off before she could speak. "Please… she doesn't know what she's doing… she isn't in control… please, don't hurt her…" The sheer desperation in his voice struck a chord in Sheva, and she nodded. Satisfied, Chris gave her a meaningful look, before hunting after Wesker, leaving Sheva to deal with Jill.

Chris ran under one of the archways under the crumbling stairs, gun raised. It lead to some sort of mini network of tunnels. They were dark, shadowy, and with lots of twist meaning there were a lot of places Chris could hide and get the drop on Wesker. But, it was also a double edged sword of sorts - as Wesker could do the same.

Chris moved stealthily, the dim light of the torches on the wall his only source of light. He was on guard; Wesker could pop out of everywhere. As he turned another corner, he started to think that it was a bad idea for him to have dived head-first into the tunnels after Wesker, until he suddenly heard Wesker's voice from somewhere close behind him.

"There you are!" Wesker called out, as though he'd been looking for his puppy that had gotten away. Chris cursed, and dived behind a pillar into a small alcove where the were two tomb like artefacts. "Come out and play, Christopher," Wesker taunted him, and Chris gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath to stop himself charging at Wesker head-on. That would get him nowhere. Instead, he kept quiet, waiting for Wesker to pass.

His eyes trained ahead as he hugged the wall, gun ready, waiting to ambush Wesker. If he could catch him unexpected, maybe he could land a hit. His idea worked; Wesker slowly walked past him, un-noticing, searching for him. Chris sprang out from behind him, and unloaded a magazine into his back as fast as he could press down on the trigger of his gun. Wesker grunted, staggering at the unexpected attack. Chris pressed the trigger until it clicked, meaning he had emptied an entire magazine into Wesker's back.

"Shit," Chris cursed, fumbling around to reload. But he was too slow; almost as if Chris hadn't even shot him, Wesker turned and in a flash of movement grabbed hold of Chris, locking him in a chokehold. Chris' gun clattered to the floor.

"What are you going to do now, Chris? Your bullets are virtually useless against me, and I bet your partner is having an even tougher time with Jill," Wesker sneered as Chris struggled, "Jill's an amazing creature, Chris. You have no idea how long she resisted me for, no others put up as strong a fight as she did. I almost thought my experiment was going to end in failure. But the virus laying dormant in her blood, my that was just a stroke of wonderful luck. Why, it made her a stronger creature than even me. Her body even developed an immunity to the T-virus… imagine that! It kept her alive, during the fall, when she knocked the both of us from that window in the Spencer mansion. And then, it was simply a matter of… persuasion, and she was mine."

"You… you bastard…" Chris hissed, Wesker's arms tight around his throat. Wesker laughed, and just when Chris thought his neck was going to snap, Wesker's watch beeped.

"Oh, my, my, looks like I've run out of time," Wesker's voice sounded like a sigh, "We'll play again later." Wesker dropped Chris, and vanished.

"There's no way I'm letting you get away from me," Chris growled, pushing himself to his feet and chasing after Wesker. He ran back out into the hall, to be met by Sheva. Jill was nowhere in sight. "Where's Jill?" He asked, a pang of shock running through him.

"I don't know, she just disappeared," Sheva replied. Chris spotted Wesker on the balcony, and he and Sheva ran up the stairs towards him.

"Wesker, stop!" Chris demanded, aiming his gun at Wesker. Sheva mirrored him. Wesker said nothing, simply smirking at them both. A rush of footsteps were suddenly heard behind the duo, and they both spun around in time to see Jill leap at them, kicking Sheva' gun from her hand. She sprang around them both, kicking off the wall to land a kick in Sheva's chest, knocking her backwards. She landed heavily in a heap. Jill moved like a hurricane, spinning through the air and subduing Chris, knocking him down and twisting his arm in a vice grip-like hold. Chris dropped his gun again for what felt like the umpteenth time, the bones in his wrist protesting at the way Jill twisted it. He gave a yelp of pain, and tried yet again to reason with her.

"Jill! C'mon! It's me, Chris! Snap out of it!" He was begging that she would snap out of it with every fibre in his body as her hateful eyes stared down at him.

"Nice move, Chris." Wesker said sarcastically, "But like I told you, she does what I say. So, I'll leave her to deal with you two; she's more than a match for the both of you put together," He moved into the shadows, where there was something that resembled an elevator waiting. Chris moaned as Jill twisted his wrist again.

"Come on! Wake UP! Jill Valentine!" He ordered; he refused to give up, he knew she was in there. It seemed to work, a confused look came over her face, the angry mask slipping.

"Ch… Chris?" She whispered in a gruff voice, before letting him go and taking a few steps back. It looked like the hardest thing she'd ever done. But Chris felt a swell of hope. He knew she was in there, he had to get through to her. But, when he sat up, he saw her, struggling against some unseen force. And she was struggling hard.

"Jill…" He whispered, almost numb. She was in pain. It struck him hard.

"Remarkable, still resisting! See, what did I tell you, Chris? Amazing. However, it's futile." Wesker's voice sounded almost praising, and he pulled out a small device from his pocket, pushing a button. Suddenly, Jill screamed and fell forward onto her knees. Chris stared in horror as she gasped for breath, clutching at her chest.

"What the hell are you doing to her?" He yelled, his voice tinged with slight hysteria.

"She cannot resist for very long," Wesker simply said, and pushed another button, forcing another scream from Jill. Chris flinched, feeling tears spring into his eyes. He couldn't stand it when Jill was in pain; he felt it just as she did. Wesker laughed, and stepped into the elevator. Chris leapt to his feet, yelling at Wesker, demanding to know what he did to Jill, but the steel doors of the elevator closed before Chris could reach it. Slamming his fist against the door, he cursed, but another shriek of pain from Jill caused him to spin around. She was clawing furiously at her chest, and in one move, ripped the zipper open at the top, screaming again as it came open.

There, planted on her chest, was some sort of cruel, ruby-coloured device; Jill's skin around it was a raw red colour, and the device was giving off sparks as Jill thrashed around.

"What the hell is that thing on her chest?" Sheva asked in horror as she appeared at Chris' side.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it seemed to be triggered by that little device Wesker had." Chris replied as Jill hissed and growled at the two like a rabid animal. She beckoned them forward, challenging them, and back flipped over the balcony.

"Well maybe if we can get it off, she'll return to normal," Sheva suggested, and Chris nodded.

"Then let's get it off," Chris said, and newly determined, he ran at full speed down the stairs at Jill. Both he and Sheva made lunges at Jill, to try and grab her so they could attempt to get the device off her chest, but she was too fast for the both of them. She kicked Sheva away, and kicked at Chris' legs, knocking him down. With another hiss, she darted away again, scaling the wall and climbing back up to the balcony again.

"We need to distract her or something, she's too fast for us to get a hold on her," Sheva stated, helping Chris up.

"You're right, but how?" Chris agreed, eyes darting to Jill; she was up on the balcony, darting around faster than his eyes could follow.

"Reason with her, it seemed to work before," Sheva said, her voice strained.

"Are you alright?" Chris asked; in all the chaos with Jill, he had almost forgotten about Sheva.

"I'm fine, don't worry about - watch out!" She yelled, diving at Chris and knocking him to the floor as a stream of bullets whizzed past where Chris had just been standing a second ago. Jill had machine guns. "We need to get that thing off her, now!" Sheva stated, pulling Chris back onto his feet as she stood. "Distract her, then I'll grab her," Sheva ordered, and Chris nodded.

Sucking in a deep breath, he yelled, "Stop, Jill! Please stop! It's Chris, don't you remember?" Jill leapt back down off the balcony, running at Chris. He held up his hands. "I don't want to hurt you, Jill!" It was the last thing he ever wanted to do, the thought sickened him, "It's me!" He yelled again, and Jill came to a stop, struggling with herself again. The device was going haywire, sending sparks all over the place. Jill moaned in pain, and Sheva quickly took the chance to grab hold of Jill's arms from behind her.

"Now! Get if off!" Sheva commanded as she struggled with Jill, and Chris hurried forward, his fingers grasping the corners of the device. Jill screamed in agony as he began to pull, and he bit his tongue as he felt tears well up in his eyes again at the sound of Jill's pain. The device was embedded deep into her chest, and refused to come loose. Sheva lost her hold on Jill, and she slipped out of her arms and under Chris' legs. But Chris was fast; he caught her as she was sliding away, and pinned her to the ground. He swung his leg over her and sat on her, keeping her there so he could work on the device.

She screamed more as he pulled, and he had to grit his teeth to stop himself from screaming along with her. But he needed to get it off her, he needed to save her. That thought kept him going. With one final heave, the device came loose, and Chris stumbled back as he ripped it from her chest. A primal scream of sheer agony slipped from Jill's lips, and she rolled over, convulsing as the device came off her. Chris threw it aside, hurrying to Jill's side as she collapsed; her screams still echoing in his ears.

"JILL! Jill are you alright?" He yelled to her, kneeling beside her body and lifting her into his arms. She moaned, and blood oozed from the fresh, jagged holes in her chest. "Jill…" Chris whispered, and she slowly opened her eyes, the angry, bitter mask gone from her face. Her pale blue eyes stared up at him.

"Chris…?" She breathed, her hand weakly lifting up to touch his face. He smiled, a wave of happiness flowing through him; he momentarily forgot where he was, forgot about Sheva, focusing only on the woman in his arms.

"Yeah, it's me," He whispered, and lifted her up to crush her to his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he held her to his body, one hand slipping into her hair, breathing in her scent as he mumbled her name over and over again. He knew at that moment, she was his Jill once more. She was alive, and in his arms. She had come back to him again, and he would never let her go.

END


End file.
